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Industrial Education in the 
Cleveland Public Schools 

A Report with Recommendations by the 
Committee on Education of the 
Cleveland Chamber of Commerce 



Approved by the Board of Directors 
April i^ih, IQ14 






D. 0F 9. 



To the Board of Directors of 

The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. 

Gentlemen : Your committee on education respectfully sub- 
mits the following report upon the present status of industrial ed- 
ucation in the Cleveland public school system and elsewhere, to- 
gether with certain recommendations for further progress in 
Cleveland. 

The term "industrial education" has, we found, a rather con- 
fusing variety of significance. For our purpose, we assume edu- 
cation to be divided into two main classes — academic or general 
education, and vocational education. Vocational education we 
understand to mean all preparation for productive labor. We have 
confined ourselves to the consideration of that vocational educa- 
tion which prepares for wage earning in the shop or factory. 
This we have considered under two heads : 

(1) "Pre- vocational education" in mechanics, general man- 
ual training, etc., which prepares the pupil for later training in 
his chosen occupation; 

(2) Actual training of prospective wage earners in shop 
or factory practice, conducted for the most part in distinct "trade 
schools." 

Both of these are included in the term "industrial education." 
In this report we shall distinguish the two divisions of industrial 
education by the terms "pre-vocational education" and "trade 
training." 

In most of our Amierican public school systems, industrial edu- 
cation has progressed no further than the pre-vocational courses 
conceded to be useful in any industrial vocation. 

Your committee finds, after corresponding with the educa- 
tional authorities in the other ten largest cities of the United 
States, that Cleveland is providing as much pre-vocational edu- 
cation as any of these cities. Further, we find that among persons 
who have been making a study of this subject and are best in- 
formed, Cleveland is recognized as being in the front rank of 
American municipalities in this regard. In the elementary grades 
of our public schools drafting and simple tool work is taught to 
the boys in the fifth and sixth grades in the school room, while 
more advanced work is taught in the seventh and eighth grades by 
special teachers in school centers. Domestic science for girls 
begins in the fifth and sixth grades ; simple and useful things are 
made, and sewing is taught by special teachers. Drawing and ap- 
plied art, including free hand drawing, designing and instruction 
in the making of simple articles, is taught in the kindergarten, ele- 
mentary schools, industrial schools and high schools as a unit 
from the kindergarten through high school. The technical high 
schools are chiefly designed to prepare pupils for supervisory or 

3 



minor executive positions in industry ; they offer advanced courses 
in drafting and pattern-making, as well as classes in forging, 
foundry and machine shop practice, etc., and opportunity to spe- 
cialize in chemistry, electrical construction, auto repairing, print- 
ing, agriculture, designing, cartooning, etc. 

On the other hand, Cleveland has not established any separate 
trade schools to train prospective wage earners in actual shop or 
factory practice, with the aim of fitting graduates for immediate 
employment as skilled workmen. In Germany notably, many 
such schools have been established ; and New York, Philadelphia, 
Boston, Pittsburgh and Detroit, among the larger American cities, 
have established a few trade schools. Usually, in the best of such 
schools, courses are arranged under actual shop conditions and 
the pupils are engaged in making saleable products. 

Scarcely more than one hundred years ago the idea that a 
legal or medical education should be obtained in a school or col- 
lege would have been deemed ridiculous. Today such an educa- 
tion is practically required before the State will allow anyone to 
practice law or medicine. Schools of agriculture are flourishing ; 
schools of journalism have proved a success ; and schools of busi- 
ness administration are being founded. There is evidently a de- 
cided tendency toward the ultimate establishment of public schools 
providing apprenticeships for practically all vocations. 

In view of the fact that out of the millions of children who 
enter the elementary grades of our schools at the age of six, less 
than one out of every four ever receives the benefit of high school 
training, we have been impressed with the necessity of making 
better provision for the pupils who will enter our industries as 
wage earners, by providing courses that will interest and hold 
these boys and girls until they receive enough educational equip- 
ment to make them productive and self-reliant. Certainly the 
fundamental educational duty of the community to the child is to 
fit him to become an independent, useful citizen; and to that end 
he must first be able to earn his living. 

Brownell School has been converted into an elementary in- 
dustrial school, with quite complete equipment. It completed its 
fourth successful year in May, 1913. It is not a trade school, 
but is used for the education of certain children of a class which 
has come to be known in educational circles as ''hand-minded" or 
"motor-minded" children, who acquire mental education best 
through the use of their hands. It is very evident that if the in- 
terest of children with this kind of mind is to be maintained, they 
must be allowed to engage in such school occupations as pattern- 
making, wood-working, etc., which have a far greater attraction 
to them than lessons in the purely academic courses. And if this 
interest is maintained and nurtured, there is reason to believe 
that the child will be stimulated to pursue higher courses of study. 



An extension of industrial education would undoubtedly benefit 
this class of children, which is acknowledged to include no incon- 
siderable proportion of all our pupils. 

The belief is held by some of our leading educators that our 
public schools should ultimately afford to prospective wage earn- 
ers an opportunity to gain practical experience as well as theoret- 
ical knowledge of their trades. 

We have conferred with some of our prominent manufactur- 
ers as well as educators, on this question. Some of them have the 
opinion that if a child is taught the right principles of character 
and if he learns to use his mind in school, he is better fitted to en- 
ter the shop or factory where he may learn a trade than if the 
attempt had been made to teach him the trade in the school room. 
It is also suggested that in America trades are not passed from 
father to son, as in Germany, and that therefore it is inexpedi- 
ent to teach a child a trade which he may not follow; that with 
the modern development of machines, the skilled mechanic is be- 
coming less and less required; and that in an industrial center 
which has so many diversified industries as Cleveland it would 
be practically impossible to establish enough schools to teach all 
trades. On the other hand, some educators and manufacturers 
who have given the subject much thought, believe that trade train- 
ing is most desirable, and must be given by the public sooner or 
later. 

Of course financial difficulties confront every proposal for 
any extension of our educational system; and for that reason if 
for no other, the establishment of separate schools in Cleveland 
for the purpose of teaching particular trades seems certainly not 
practicable in the near future. Your sub-committee believes, 
however, that the progress of other states and cities along this 
line should be carefully noted, and the means used to promote the 
capacity of their school children as future wage earners, not only 
in the interest of the children, but also for aiding in the success- 
ful operation of their industries, should receive thoughtful con- 
sideration by The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. 

The State of New Jersey has made provision for the estab- 
lishment of vocational schools by appropriating a fund equal to 
that which is raised by the local district for tools, machinery, ap- 
pliances and operation, provided the amount for any school does 
not exceed $10,000. 

Wisconsin, noted for its progress in educational matters, has 
provided for state and local boards of industrial education, con- 
sisting of three employers, three employes, and three practical and 
eminent educators ; two-thirds of their number thus consisting of 
men actually and practically engaged in industry; and the com- 
munity sees to it that the schools adapt themselves to the inter- 
ests of those engaged in the particular industries of each dis- 



trict. In the words of the law, the schools are established "to in- 
struct young persons in industrial arts and occupations — and to 
give such instruction as will lead to a fair knowledge of the 
liberal arts, a just and intelligent appreciation of the nobility and 
dignity of labor, and in general to promote diligence, economy, 
efficiency, honor and good citizenship." In support of this law, 
the state appropriates toward the maintenance of schools through- 
out the state a sum equal in each case to one-half the amount ex- 
pended in any school, up to $3,000, and not to exceed $10,000 for 
any one community — this appropriation made with the under- 
standing that the school has been maintained in a satisfactory 
manner for not less than eight months. 

In 1913 Indiana passed a law reimbursing the local com- 
munities which had applied a plan for carrying on and increas- 
ing vocational education, by the payment of an amount equal to 
two-thirds of the salary of each teacher giving instruction in vo- 
cational subjects. 

New York in 1910 passed an act establishing a system of 
state-conducted vocational schools under the administration of 
state and local boards of education throughout the state. 

Ohio has not yet actively exerted itself in this branch of ed- 
ucation. 

Your committee believes the most feasible plan for immedi- 
ate progress in industrial education in Cleveland is to add, from 
time to time, to the present pre-vocational courses in the element- 
ary grades. The principals of both our Technical High Schools 
say there is no reason why many of the courses in mechanical 
drawing, wood-working, etc., which are now taught in the first 
two years in the Technical High Schools, should not be taught 
in the seventh and eighth grades of the elementary schools ; some 
of the pre-vocational courses now taught in the seventh and 
eighth grades could then be taught in the fifth and sixth grades. 
This would furnish some of those who quit school before or at 
the completion of the elementary grades a better knowledge of 
shop and factory work, and also make it possible to extend the 
work in some of the higher courses in the Technical High Schools. 

At present there is equipment in only a few Cleveland pub- 
lic school buildings for even the rudimentary manual training fur- 
nished in the elementary grades, and the pupils of most schools 
must go from their own schools to these few for classes in these 
courses. It would seem wise to provide each school building with 
a manual training shop in order that lessons in this subject may be 
given without requiring children to make trips to distant build- 
ings. 

Even these small steps in advance, however, will require a 
considerable expenditure for construction, equipment and opera- 
tion. The Board of Education is not now able even to house 

6 



properly the children already attending the schools ; and our pro- 
posal, we believe, would largely increase the attendance. 

In view of all these facts, and in view of the further fact 
that our information as to the administration of the schools, both 
educational and financial, is not sufficient to enable us to make 
definite and specific recommendations for immediate extension of 
industrial education, your committee confines itself to the fol- 
lowing recommendations : 

(1) That instruction in pre-vocational courses, as now of- 
fered in the higher grades of the elementary schools and the first 
two years of the Technical High School courses, should be intro- 
duced in lower grades of the public schools from time to time as 
the means can be made available; provided, however, that the 
present degree of efficiency of instruction in fundamental and 
essential courses now taught in these grades, be not thereby im- 
paired. 

(2) That The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce continue 
on the alert for information as to the progress of other states and 
cities in the establishment and conduct of trade schools for actual 
shop and factory practice, so that the experience of pioneers in 
this field may be made promptly available in the consideration, 
from time to time, of the advisability of similar schools for Cleve- 
land. 

(3) We further recommend to your board that in the near 
future you refer to such committee as may be deemed best qual- 
ified, the task of studying the present methods of school admin- 
istration and finance, with a view to recommending ways and 
means by which the rapidly developing needs of our public school 
system may be adequately met. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Walter T. Dunmore 
W. F. Gibbons 
Robert R. Abbott 
Andre T. Chisholm 
C. W. Courtney 
W. E. Crofut 
Arthur C. Eastwood 
E. M. France 
Philip Frankel 
Charles Goulder 
Geo. B. Harris 
Herbert H. Henry 
Crispin Oglebay 
Avery A. Shaw 
Emmet J. Strong 
Committee on Education 



029 982 673 9 



